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Saturday, April 16, 2011

Dinner with babies

I had a great time with two of my girlfriends last night. We went out to dinner, much needed girl time for all of us. The other two ladies have kids, one has a 5 year old and a 2 year old. The other one has one 2 year old. I was sitting at dinner observing their parenting styles. When their babies would scream or get upset, they reacted completely differently. But they both looked at me and smiled, "Just wait until you have a 2 year old." I'm sure parenting isn't easy. I've been around kids all my life. I'm the oldest of 10 grand kids, I've babysat since I was 14. I lived with my Aunt and Uncle and her two young kids while I was in school. But no, I've never been a parent. But I have some great parenting role models, my mom and dad and all my aunts and uncles. My father would NEVER allow me to throw my mac & cheese or run around a restaurant. Both my brother and I were very well behaved kids. And get this... we weren't spanked as kids. I was spanked once when I was about 7. I was oldest enough to know better and I probably deserved it (even though I still tell my mom I didn't). But they never spanked us when we were small. And it feels like this is the go to method for many of my friends AND my husband. He was spanked as a kid. And he thinks this is the only way to discipline children. I might not be a mom yet, but I have read a lot about child development and the way the human brain develops in a child.

But Joe says to me, "What do you do when your 4 year old son sticks aluminum foil in the light socked?" What the hell is your 4 year old doing with aluminum foil? Every kid gets into stuff and there will be plenty of accidents, especially having Joe's demon spawn. But my mother has always told me, you just have to be smarter than your 5 year old. We were smart kids, Joe was a smart kid. When we did something stupid, my father would laugh at us. Or mom would say she was disappointed in us. Having my parents' approval means the world to me, it always has. Disappointing them, even a kid, wasn't an option. I just have to figure out how to parent like my parents did.

So if your 2 year old decided to throw their mac & cheese while in public, or your 5 year old ran to the bench and laid down and stated kicking the chair behind him, which someone else is sitting in, what would you do?